


Snow for a Crow

by TillyWunderWing



Category: Nevermoor Series - Jessica Townsend
Genre: Angst, Blizzards & Snowstorms, Fever Dreams, Gen, Jupidad, Sick Character, Sickfic, Whump, im so sorry mog, this was supposed to be a oneshot but i got carried away lol, why do i crave pain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25398163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TillyWunderWing/pseuds/TillyWunderWing
Summary: A fierce blizzard has swept through the city of Nevermoor, and Morrigan’s route home hasn’t exactly gone to plan.Now she’s stumbling desperately through a snow-laden street she doesn’t recognise, while a panicked Jupiter North rushes to find her before things can get any worse.
Comments: 43
Kudos: 70





	1. Falling Feathers

Morrigan clung tighter to her brolly, bowing her head in an attempt to lessen the cold wind that stung her cheeks.

It was dead in the middle of winter, and snow was piled up everywhere. It had gotten so bad that every last one of the Hometrains at Wunsoc were blocked in, so scholars had no way of getting to their stations. Most students had just decided to trudge through the snow—maybe catch the Wunderground if they lived particularly far—but Morrigan had decided to take the Brolly Rail.

“Are you really?” Hawthorne had said dubiously when she told him her route home for the night. “I mean, it’s windy out. And it gets cold up there.” Then he’d scrunched up his face, and added, “Aren’t  _ I  _ usually the one with the dumb ideas?”

Which was true, but not relevant, because she knew what she was doing. Sort of.

She was, admittedly, a little nervous. Usually Jupiter was with her when she rode this thing, but now she was on her lonesome, in the midst of a raging storm, no less. But, hey, it was the quickest option, and what could go wrong?

Besides the obvious falling and breaking her legs, but if her death grip on the umbrella was any indication, that wasn’t particularly likely.

She leaned forward a little, peering around the platform to watch for the approaching cable. This had to be timed perfectly, or else she’d miss her window and have to wait a few minutes for the next one. It wasn’t a very long wait, but it was freezing cold out, and she’d have preferred to get home as soon as possible.

She tapped her foot rhythmically—nervous habit—as the cable sped towards her.

_ Maybe this isn’t a good idea. _

Cadence had offered to take Morrigan on the Wunderground, suggesting she could mesmerise the man at the ticket booth into letting them in without paying. And while the prospect of company, along with a warm, sheltered train carriage, had been alluring, Morrigan preferred to obtain her transport by lawful means wherever possible. Plus, the Brolly Rail was faster.

She shook her head, pushing all second thoughts forcefully out of her mind. No time for doubts—the cable was fast approaching.

Had... 

To act...

_ Now! _

She reached out, hooking her umbrella onto the cable with ease, and pulling herself up as she was whisked along, out into the cloudy city skyline and towards her home.

* * *

Jupiter frowned. “She hasn’t come back yet?”

“Nope,” Martha said. “The Hometrains couldn’t operate because of the snow. Here.” She handed him a letter, neatly folded and stamped with the Wundrous Society emblem. Sure enough, the note confirmed that students had been unable to return to their platforms, and that they’d had to choose other modes of transport.

Jupiter sighed, folding the letter back into neat little squares. “I do wish I’d known sooner. I could’ve picked her up on my way back.

It was Martha’s turn to look concerned. “You think she’ll be okay out there?”

Jupiter shrugged. He  _ would  _ have preferred to accompany her home in such vile weather, but it’d been about half an hour since Wunsoc’s teaching hours had ended, and he knew from experience that the teachers weren’t particularly fond of loiterers. No doubt she was on her way back by that point.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” he conceded, tucking the letter into his pocket. “I trust her well enough.”

* * *

Morrigan hugged her brolly close as the streets of Nevermoor passed in flashes of muted colours.

The air was bitingly cold, and she couldn’t help but shiver. At least she’d be home soon, and she could curl up by the fire with a nice hot chocolate and—

A vicious, howling gust of wind tore her out of her daydream, battering her in midair as her heart pounded.

_ Maybe this WAS a bad idea. _

It was fine. Everything was fine. She was halfway home by now, so if she could hang on just a bit longer...

Another gust of wind shook her, stronger this time. She squeezed her eyes shut, tightening her already white-knuckled grip on her brolly, when...

CLUNK.

Her eyes snapped open.

_ Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. _

Morrigan looked up in horror to see that the cable’s locking mechanism had burst open in the fierce wind, and she was now hanging loosely from the swaying hook, teetering right on the edge and threatening to fall to the streets below.

She began breathing faster, blood roaring in her ears.

_ No. _

Another strong gust of wind, the handle was slipping, and then—

_ NO! _

Morrigan let out a loud shriek as the hook gave way, and she was falling, falling, falling, as if in slow motion, down to the distant, snow-covered streets below.

The fear was overpowering, and she blacked out right before she slammed, full-force, into the thick snowbank. In the roaring winds of the snowstorm, the impact hardly made a sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEAAAAH BOYYY NEW FANFIC TIME.  
> Can’t promise consistent updates, but I CAN promise:  
> \- Sadness.  
> That’s it that’s all I can promise.  
> Anyway hope y’all enjoy this lol!! Been wanting to write a story like this for a while so. Should be a fun ride :D


	2. Patience and Persistence

Jupiter was growing restless.

“She should be back by now,” he muttered, his rhythmic footsteps echoing through the otherwise silent hotel lobby.

“So you have told me,” Fen said, rolling her eyes. “Every thirty seconds, in fact. For the  _past ten minutes.”_

Jupiter pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to mask his distress behind a veil of annoyance. It wasn’t particularly working. “It’s just... It’s so bad out there, Fen. I don’t...”

At this point, he had to stop pacing to compose himself, burying his face in his hands and letting out a pained sigh. “I don’t want her to get hurt, Fen. Anything could happen out there.”

His hands fell to his sides as he collapsed into one of the plush leather sofas lining the walls of the lobby. Fenestra was regarding him with vague concern, though she had yet to move from her position on the tiled floor, where she was stretched out luxuriously while, just moments ago, Jupiter had been walking tense circles around her.

A long moment passed between them. “What do you expect we should do, then?” Fenestra asked gently.

Jupiter thought for a while, opening and closing his mouth as he contemplated his options. Finally, he made a decision.

He stood up rapidly, and Fen leaned back in slight alarm.

“Where are you going?”

He grabbed an umbrella from the drying rack as he approached the door, not looking back at her. “I’m going to look for Morrigan.”

“Uh, no, you’re not.”

“I  _have to,_ Fen, I—“

He was cut off as Fenestra grabbed him by his shirt collar and dragged him away from the door, in much the same way a mother cat would handle a particularly rowdy kitten.

“You don’t  _have_ to do anything except  _calm down,”_ she scolded as she dumped him by the desk. “Charlie and Frank are already stuck at home with head colds. The last thing this hotel needs is you getting sick.”

“And what about Morrigan?” Jupiter spat bitterly. “Do you not care if  _she_ gets sick?”

“Of  _course_ I care,” Fen replied, audibly offended. “But you need to look after yourself as well, North.”

Jupiter rested his chin in one hand, unease gnawing at the pit of his stomach. Fen was right. If he didn’t slow down, he’d only get himself hurt, which would be of no use to anyone.

He just had to trust that Morrigan could make it home safe. He could trust her, couldn’t he?

... _Could_ he?

Fenestra seemed to soften at the crestfallen look on his face. She stood up, padding circles around herself, before eventually sitting with her back turned to him.

“Twenty minutes.”

Jupiter looked up, confused. “Hm?”

“If she’s not back home in twenty minutes, I’ll go out and help you find her.”

He folded his arms. “Seriously? Even though...?”

“Yes, even though I’ll get snow in my fur. Don’t think I’ll do this without complaint, North, because I  _will_ take every opportunity to remind you how much you owe me.” She shot him a glare. “But I’m not really doing this for you. Morrigan’s a good kid, and if you’re just gonna stress yourself out about this, then I suppose you could use the company.”

Jupiter smiled faintly. “Thanks, Fen. I owe you one.”

Fen snorted. “You certainly do.”

Jupiter watched as Fen bounced gracefully up the stairs, jumping four steps at a time. He let out another pained sigh, wondering where Morrigan could possibly be, and what in the world was taking her so long.

He bit his lip, thinking about the howling wind outside.

_ I really, really hope she’s okay. _

* * *

When Morrigan woke up, she was covered in snow.

She lay there for a few surreal moments, watching the snowflakes fall. The evening was quiet, and the falling snow made pretty spiral patterns in the air as it drifted to the ground. For just a moment, Morrigan felt at peace.

And then the reality of her situation came back to her, and she sat up with a jolt of panic. A response which, almost immediately, she began to regret.

Everything hurt.  _Badly._ Luckily, it seemed the snowbank had broken her fall a bit, but it still hadn’t been the most graceful landing. She felt bruised, battered, her muscles protesting with every movement. But at the very least it seemed nothing was broken. Not even her brolly—it was, miraculously, still perfectly intact. 

Unlike Morrigan, who sort of felt like she was dying. And the pain wasn’t even the worst part.

The melted snow around her had soaked through to her skin, and a deep chill ran right to her bones, causing her to shiver in random, uncontrollable spasms. Her legs and fingers had gone completely numb, and she stumbled as she gradually rose to her feet, hardly able to feel where she was stepping.

_ Should’ve taken the stupid Wunderground... _

She fumbled with her umbrella, and after a few whispered curse words, managed to get it open. Morrigan sighed as she angled it against the wind, providing a mere moment’s peace against the persistent cold.

_I have to get moving,_ she thought to herself.  _Things will be better once I’m back at the Hotel._

She looked around, squinting as the wind stung her eyes, and then her stomach dropped as she realised...

She had no idea where she was, much less how to get to the Hotel from there.

_Okay, don’t panic,_ she told herself, though her breath was already tightening in her throat.

She looked up at the sky, hoping the Brolly Rail overhead could point her in the right direction, but the blizzard was too heavy for her to get a clear picture. 

Morrigan swore under her breath as she assessed her unfamiliar surroundings. No landmark she recognised, no conveniently placed street signs... She was, for lack of a better term, royally screwed.

Pursing her lips, Morrigan picked a direction and trudged forward through the fierce wind. Surely she would find something she recognised, somewhere—or, at the very least, somewhere to hide while the storm blew over.

After all, the blizzard couldn’t go on forever. But as Morrigan pressed on through the snow, shivering harshly, she began to doubt if she had the strength to outlast it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no research we die like men.  
> This chapter was actually really difficult to write lol, I ended up deleting the whole second half and starting over during the drafting phase. That’s what I get for writing fanfic so late at night I guess.  
> Also if you think I’m not gonna start shovelling my favourite tropes here next chapter then you can think again, buddio boy, because things are aBoUt To GeT fUnKy  
> ..lmao im having fun


	3. Flirting With Disaster

Things were going downhill very, very quickly.

It had only been about ten minutes since Morrigan had woken, but it felt to her as if hours had passed. Each footprint in the snow was just a little heavier than the one before it, each breath slightly shakier as she pushed on through the storm.

At first, the movement had helped to keep her warm, but that had faded quickly. Now, Morrigan was colder, more exhausted, and more miserable than perhaps she’d ever been. And she had been her fair share of miserable.

_ This is stupid,  _ she thought to herself.  _ Surely there must be something nearby. I’ve been walking for ages, the Hotel can’t possibly be far... _

She flinched as a raven burst into flight somewhere above her, cawing loudly. She wasn’t sure why she was so jumpy, but the sudden startle left her with a sense of unease.

Morrigan paused to rest for a moment, leaning against a brick wall and releasing a heavy sigh. Her whole body ached with bruises and she was shaking badly.

_ I just want to go home. _

Morrigan pushed off from the wall and stumbled, briefly losing her balance, before righting herself. Her vision was growing blurry, and fear twisted in her stomach.

_ This isn’t good,  _ she realised, as if that hadn’t been resoundingly obvious from the beginning.  _ If I don’t get back soon, I’ll probably catch pneumonia or hypothermia or something. I could die out here. _

She shook her head, pushing away her paranoia. She was being silly. Nothing would happen. She would find the Hotel and go up to her room and curl up in her bed and fall asleep and forget the day had ever happened. Everything would be fine.

_Everything is fine,_ she told herself. It was the only thing she could think through the fuzziness of her mind.

Morrigan blinked away the haze and kept walking, too anxious to care how painful it was. 

* * *

“She probably just got off at the wrong station and had to wait for another cable. I’m sure she’s okay.”

Jupiter ran a hand through his copper hair, biting his lip as he fought his rising panic. “It’s been ages, Fen! What if she’s lost somewhere, or if she’s hurt herself, or—“

“Jupiter. Just.  _ Slow down.”  _ Fen sat in front of him, her golden eyes pinning him down. “It’s not like you to get so worked up. And she’s a strong girl—you know that.”

He let out a distressed sigh. Fen was right. Morrigan  _ was  _ strong, and he  _ did  _ know that, but...

“That’s just what she is, though. A  _ girl.”  _ He stood up and began pacing back and forth, abuzz with worry. “She’s still just a girl—a young girl, in the middle of a snowstorm, who  _ nobody has seen in hours!”  _

“You really need to calm down,” Fen insisted, though her tail was thumping lightly against the floor in what Jupiter knew was a sign of concern. “Panic won’t help us find her.”

“Sitting around won’t help us find her either,” he snapped.

Fenestra paused, regarding Jupiter with careful scrutiny. He withered slightly beneath her gaze.

“It’s only been fifteen minutes,” Fen said softly.

“I know. And you said twenty. But—“

“But fifteen minutes is a long time to be lost in the snow,” Fen finished, rising to her paws with a weary sigh. “You’re a real handful, you know that, North?”

“...Should I be proud of that?”

“Probably not. Now let’s get moving.”

Jupiter gave a small jolt of surprise. “Seriously?”

Fen scowled at him. “Do I look like I’m joking? If all you’re planning to do is whine, then we may as well make ourselves useful.” She flicked her tail irritably. “Don’t give me that look—this was your idea.”

Jupiter gave a small smirk. “I know.”

She walked off to the door, batting his arm with her tail as he jogged to keep up with her long strides. As they neared the entrance, he grabbed a brolly from the drying rack to take for himself, and then, with a moment’s hesitation, offered one to Fenestra.

“How do you suppose I plan to hold that thing?”

Jupiter shrugged and placed the brolly back in the stand. “Your loss.”

Fen scoffed as she shouldered through the Hotel entrance, and Jupiter shivered as he stepped after her.

_ Mercy me, it’s freezing out here. _

The moment the door swung closed behind him, Jupiter’s anxiety shot through the roof. The weather was even harsher than he’d thought, and the idea of Morrigan traversing it alone sent trembles of worry rippling through his body.

Or maybe he was just shaking from the cold. It was rather hard to tell.

Jupiter’s mouth drew back into a hard line, and he narrowed his eyes, overcome with a newfound determination.

He was going to find Morrigan, no matter what it took.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> clowns rlly do be spending 20 minutes trying to think of a chapter title. anyway I’m clowns 🤡  
> Haha procrastination go brrr  
> Don’t know when next chap will be up but here’s your friendly reminder to join the Nevermoor discord if you haven’t already uwu I post updates there sometimes (i would be happy to provide a link for anyone who wants it!)


	4. A Trail of Ice

“Morrigan?”

The distressed call was met with silence, save for the whistling flow of the wind.

“...Mog, where are you?”

Nothing.

“Mog! Can you hear me?”

“The whole of Nevermoor will hear you if you keep up that racket,” Fen grumbled, brushing snowflakes off Jupiter’s shoulder as she padded up beside him.

Jupiter tensed. “Did you find anything?”

“If I had, I wouldn’t have come back empty handed.” Fen’s tail swished through the snow, her face decorated with concern despite her dry tone.

Jupiter looked to the sky, his heart sinking. He wasn’t sure exactly how long they’d been searching for, but it was long enough that...

Well. He didn’t like to think about it too much. But he knew, deep in his gut, there was every chance that Morrigan was in serious danger.

“Storm’s lifting,” Fen said quietly, cutting through his thoughts.

“I know.”

“Maybe she’ll be okay.”

Jupiter dropped his gaze, Fen’s shimmering golden eyes meeting with his own. “Maybe she won’t.”

Fen’s tail lashed, spraying snow into the air behind her. “Don’t say that.”

Jupiter looked away, but said nothing.  _ She’s right. I can’t give up hope,  _ he told himself.  _ Not here. Not now. _

_ Not when there’s so much at stake. _

Fenestra paced around him once, then twice, before coming to a stop next to him, her shaggy fur shielding him from the wind.

“You checked that way?” she asked, nodding towards a street that wasn’t familiar to Jupiter. He shook his head.

Fenestra lifted a paw from the snow and nudged him toward it. “Let’s go, then.”

“Aren’t we splitting up again?”

Fenestra eyed him warily. “We’ve been out here for a while. Best we stay together in case... in case something happens.”

Jupiter narrowed his eyes. He knew Fen was only trying to spare his feelings, but he’d known her for years, and he recognised the measured look in her eyes. “You mean, in case I do something stupid?” He scoffed. “I can handle myself, thank you very much.”

Fen gave him a light cuff on the arm. “I’m just... worried, is all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this beside yourself.”

“I’m not—“ Jupiter cut himself off with a wave of his hand. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his stress levels rising rapidly. “It’s not  _me_ you should be worrying about!”

Fenestra fell silent for a few moments, holding his stare, and for a brief moment Jupiter wondered if he’d pushed the line too far. But, thankfully, she spoke out a moment later, her voice calm and soft.

“Like it or not, I’m not taking my eyes off you, North. We could sit here arguing all night, or we could keep moving. Your call.”

Jupiter folded his arms, and, after a moment’s contemplation, muttered a quiet, “Fine.”

Fen appeared satisfied, and padded towards him, curling her tail lightly around his back. They walked onwards through the snow, calling loudly for Morrigan and on a sharp lookout for anything that could help them track her down.

Jupiter tried to retain his professional, calm demeanour as they walked, but it slipped further with each passing second. He kept his mind occupied with the act of rubbing his hands together for warmth, trying not to think about how the same cold that bit his fingers had been tearing at Morrigan for who-knew-how-long now.

He shook himself. There was no time to dwell on what-ifs and maybes.

_ The longer your fear holds you back, the longer it’ll take to find her. Keep it together, North. _

He shoved his hands into his pockets, cold wind stinging his lungs as he fought to keep his panicked breathing under wraps.

_ If you lose focus now... You might never see Morrigan again. _

The snow formed thick walls around him, boxing him in. Terror inched through his veins, racing alongside the ice that crept along his skin as he persisted through the cold.

Another desperate shout echoed through the streets. “Morrigan!”

Nobody answered.

* * *

“Anybody!  _ Please—!” _

Morrigan’s voice cracked, and she paused to catch her breath. Her lungs burned from the frost in the air, and it didn’t help that her cries for help were rubbing her throat raw.

She massaged her neck, wincing. She wanted desperately to stop, to curl up in an alley and pray that someone would find her, but she had the sense to know that she couldn’t.

She was shivering constantly now, and badly. Every moment that she wasn’t moving, she was trembling uncontrollably, and even as she pushed forward her body quivered from the unrelenting cold.

Her muscles were strained from the effort of wading through the snow, and her entire body ached with bruises. Dull pain throbbed beneath the surface of her skin at every moment, and her legs threatened to give way beneath her.

_ I reeeaaaaally should have taken the Wunderground. _

“Hellooo?” she tried once again. No response.

A frigid gust of wind almost knocked Morrigan off her feet, and she paused for just a moment. A deep chill ran through her, and she hugged her arms around herself tightly, wincing as goosebumps spread over her bruised skin.

It was so, unbelievably freezing out in the street that for a brief moment Morrigan worried she would turn into an icy statue and be frozen to the spot, but thankfully her limbs—numb as they were—remained functional for the time being.

If only she had...

Morrigan’s eyes widened. She looked around at the street, which was, of course, void of any other human life, and slipped into a nearby alley. The break from the wind was a relief to Morrigan, though her hands were still numb.

Though that would change soon, if she got this right.

She felt stupid for not having thought of it before, but she didn’t have the time to punish herself. She crouched against a brick wall, taking a deep breath as she rubbed her hands together.

_ I really hope this works. _

Morrigan closed her eyes and began to sing.

“Morningtide’s child is merry and mild...”

Her voice was coarse and croaky, but she felt the familiar gathering of Wunder beginning to buzz her fingertips. She cleared her throat and continued.

“Eventide’s child is wicked and wild...”

She sounded a lot like a frog that was dying of lung cancer, but eventually she managed to sing the song to completion. She wiggled her fingers, smiling as the warm, glowing strands of Wunder brushed across her skin.

The taste of ash tickled her throat, and Morrigan coughed to clear it. Heat burned in her chest, painful but, in this weather, welcome.

She wound the strands of Wunder into a little ball and cradled it in her hands, glad of its warmth.

She coughed again, wincing as the heat in her chest flared. Ash crept up her tongue, and she gagged at the charred taste it left.

Morrigan took a few deep breaths to steady herself, but the cough only grew more persistent. Embers flew from her lips as she fought to control her breathing.

_ Oh, this can’t be good. _

She was struggling to breath easily, and was growing lightheaded. Her legs gave way and she fell against the cold concrete below, her whole body shaking as she fell into another fit of coughs.

By now she was feeling physically ill, and waves of nausea and fatigue washed over her as she lay vulnerable on the ground, shivering.

Curled up against the concrete, Morrigan finally managed to get her breathing under control, although the taste of cinders lingered on her lips. She wiped a hand across her mouth, vaguely surprised at how warm her face was to the touch when it seemed numb with cold.

So, maybe that hadn’t exactly gone to plan. But Morrigan wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

Clutching the remaining thread of Wunder close to her chest, Morrigan ventured out into the merciless streets once more.

Wind ruffled her hair as she left the comfort of the alley. The whistle of the wind made it hard to hear much, and she was still a little dizzy, so she wouldn’t be too shocked if she was imagining things.

But she sort of thought, a long, _long_ way away, she’d just heard someone calling her name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh. i know it’s been several weeks. i have nothing to say for myself hbjsjbsksjbvdh  
> But anyway uhhh sickfic? Angst? Jupidad? Love to see it  
> I’m supposed to be doing homework right now oops— anyway HOLLOWPOX IN LIKE A MONTH YEAH BAYBEEEEEEE  
> Watch as all my fics become non-canon-compliant when the new books come out ;-;  
> As always feedback is greatly appreciated :3  
> (Also have I complained about ao3 formatting lately? It’s.. not super friendly to mobile users :/)


	5. Eye of the Storm

The crunch of boots on snow filled the chilly twilight air as Jupiter marched on, with Fen trailing behind him.

“Urgh. I’m  _ drenched,”  _ complained Fen, pausing for a moment as she shook her coat out. “All this ice can’t be good for the fur, you know.”

“I don’t have fur, Fen, so no, I don’t know.”

Fen scoffed. “Normally I’d say your loss, but I’ll admit I do envy your lack of hair at a time like this. I’ll be drying off for  _weeks,”_ she finished with a mournful note.

“Cry me a river,” Jupiter responded sourly.

Fenestra bristled. “I know you’re tense, Jupiter, but I think you ought to keep your tongue in check.” She leapt forward so that she was walking beside him, touching the tip of her tail to his shoulder. “I’ve got plenty of grumpiness for the both of us,” she added, not unkindly.

They continued on in relative silence for several more minutes, Jupiter keeping his eyes glued to the snow in case he saw a set of footprints that could help them in their search, and Fen keenly alert for any sounds out of the ordinary.

After a while, Jupiter cleared his throat loudly, letting out a few small, involuntary coughs.

Fen responded by batting him over the head with her tail, looking as if the gesture had personally offended her. “Oi. You’re not getting sick on me, are you?”

“Maybe I’m getting sick  _ of  _ you.” Jupiter shook his head, thumping his chest lightly. “But no, I’m fine. I just swallowed a snowflake.”

“Well... don’t do it again.”

He shot her a dry look. “Yeah, I’ll just turn off the weather, then. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?”

Fen stopped suddenly, and Jupiter slowed to a halt beside her.

“Oh c’mon, Fen, you know I’m just messing with y—“

“Shh.” She brushed her tail over his lips to silence him, and he spent a few moments spitting fur out of his mouth before looking back up at her.

Her golden eyes were wide and alert, and her fluffy grey ears twitched attentively. Her tail stretched out behind her, deathly still as she focused carefully. 

A soft gasp escaped her lips.

“I heard something.”

In an instant, Jupiter’s pleasurable demeanour vanished, swiftly replaced by stone-cold determination. “Where?”

Fenestra’s ears tilted. “This way.” She crouched down in the snow, and without a word, Jupiter hoisted himself up onto her back, leaning against her neck as she straightened up and dashed away.

Jupiter’s heart pounded in unison with Fen’s paws, which were bounding swiftly across the frosty concrete below in long, graceful strides.

_ Divine Thing, please, let her be okay. _

His anxious grip on Fenestra’s fur tightened. “Faster!”

Fenestra didn’t wait to be told twice, rapidly picking up speed as the pair all but flew through the snow.

* * *

Everything was spinning. Why was everything spinning?

Morrigan shook her head to clear it, which only made things worse. A pounding headache crept up through her skull, piling on to the growing list of things that were just really not going great tonight.

Her throat was still scratchy and raw, for starters. And she was dizzy, and nauseous, and tired, and achey, and cold, and cranky, and good grief, she just wanted to go  _ home  _ already.

She’d given up trying to call for help—at this rate, it was doing more harm than good, and she was convinced that nobody could possibly hear her croaky voice over the whistle of the wind. Instead, she’d settled for aimlessly wandering the streets, sticking close to the walls in hopes they could offer a bit of shelter from the wind. By this point, she was  _ fairly  _ certain she’d looped back to the same point more than once—that one snowdrift seemed awfully familiar.

She turned that same corner again, and a heavy sigh gave way to a harsh coughing fit—the sixth she’d had in ten minutes. Wonderful.

Snow decorated the street in thick, smooth sheets, pristine and undisturbed, the same as it had been every time she had walked past it. Except for that one patch where a clear set of paw prints were etched into the snow, but that was—

Oh. Hang on. That was new.

It took Morrigan a moment for the scene to register, but when she finally spotted the distinct tracks, her heart gave an involuntary leap.

“Fen?” she muttered hopefully, but her voice was weak. The call was barely more than a whisper, and it was painful. Shockingly painful. Black spots appeared in Morrigan’s vision, and she blinked them away fiercely, clutching her brolly with so much force that her knuckles would have turned sheet white if she hadn’t been ghostly pale already.

Morrigan ran towards the disturbed snow, and then kept following the trail, occasionally stopping when her knees grew weak or when another set of coughs overtook her. Every step was a battle, but Morrigan fought onwards. She couldn’t stop now. 

Not when she was so... close...

An ice cold tear dropped from Morrigan’s cheek, making a small splash in the snow. She wiped her face dry and kept going.

* * *

Jupiter slid off of Fenestra’s back, his hand trailing down her thick grey fur as he landed on the ground below. He looked around cautiously.

“Morrigan?” he called out, but there was no answer. A few moments of silence passed before he slowly knelt down in the snow.

“Jupiter...” Fen prompted softly.

“Shh.”

He narrowed his eyes as he sifted through the powdery snow beneath him.

“... Listen, Jupiter, I really don’t want to be the one to say it, but...”

“Stop it, Fen.”

“You know we can’t stay out here all night.”

_ “Quiet,”  _ Jupiter snapped, still intently focused on the snow that lay before him. “I’m concentrating.”

A few long moments passed, the silence only broken by the sound of Jupiter digging through the snow.

“What exactly are you doing?” Fen asked, audibly baffled. She probably thought he’d lost the plot—which, granted, was a fair assumption on any given day.

“I’m looking for something,” he replied.

“Something being...?”

He paused for a moment as a tiny sparkle caught his eye. “Something you won’t be able to see.”

Jupiter scooped up a small patch of snow, jostling it lightly until he could see his target closer.

Nestled in the clean white folds of the snow, a tiny golden pinprick of light glittered with a muted sheen.

_ Wunder. _

“She’s been here.”

Fen stiffened behind him, but didn’t interrupt.

Jupiter peered closer at the small strand of light, his brow knotting with concern.

_ It’s not usually this dull, is it? _

The strand seemed fresh, like it had only been left behind recently—or perhaps the wind had blown it to its current destination. But it wasn’t nearly as blindingly bright as it usually was, and while he would’ve expected it to be burning hot, it was merely lukewarm to the touch. If he’d had to guess, whoever had left it behind had been  _ exhausted. _

Worry twisted in the pit of his stomach as he closed his fist around the dying spark. He stood up quickly, and met eyes with Fen, who was looking back at him with undisguised concern.

“Something’s...” Jupiter’s voice shook. “Something’s wrong.”

Fen looked horrified. “How do you know?”

Jupiter grimaced. “I’ve got a knack for knowing.”

Fen lashed her tail anxiously. “Can you tell where she went?”

Jupiter surveyed the surrounding area carefully. A single footprint, or a tiny speck of light—anything that could clue him in on where Morrigan was. The thick snow kept a good chunk of the Gossamer concealed, and his heart sunk briefly as he started to think he’d lost her trail...

But no. Right there, flashing from within a shadowed alleyway, another thread of Wunder lay on the concrete.

Jupiter stepped towards it, then stopped dead.

_ Oh no. Oh, Divine Thing, what happened...? _

Murky red haze swirled lazily through the alley, just barely visible as it gradually dissipated into the shadows.

Pain. Red smoke meant pain.

And there, mingling in with it, a fuzzy yellow cloud drifted idly by. That was confusion.

And there... tiny little lime green spikes, scattered on the concrete like pine needles on a forest floor. That was fear.

Jupiter blinked rapidly as he stared into the Gossamer, horror settling in the pit of his stomach as he put the pieces together.

“She’s nearby,” he said, his voice lined with steel. “She has to be.”

_ She has to be,  _ he told himself again. It wasn’t so much a conclusion as it was a silent, desperate plea.

Jupiter dashed down the alleyway, not even looking back to see if Fen was following.

They had a trail at last, and he’d be damned if he lost it now.

_ Hold on, Mog. I’m on my way. _

* * *

Morrigan stopped, still staring at the track of paw prints—the track which had, very inconveniently, stopped.

Well, it hadn’t quite  _ stopped.  _ It had just grown into a tangled, spattered mess, with snow churned up everywhere and no distinct trail in sight. Something—some _one_ — had definitely been here, but Morrigan had no clue where’d they gone.

Great.

Morrigan looked down at the snow as a shiver wracked her tiny frame. A voice called her name. She shrugged it off—it was just the wind. Well, partly the wind, and partly the hazy delirium that spun in her head, causing her to stumble as she walked and making her occasionally forget what she was doing.

What was she doing?

She was going home.

Right.

Where was home?

Morrigan clutched her forehead, emitting a pained hiss as discomfort stabbed through her skull. Nausea flared in the pit of her stomach, bringing with it a strange, alien nose—somewhere between a distant buzz and a high-pitched ringing in her ears, blocking out the sounds of the night and making her feel unbalanced. Morrigan struggled to stay upright as the pain faded; it didn’t vanish completely, just shrunk into the background for a moment. Something else would probably take its place soon.

A voice called her name again, and she was about to dismiss it when she noticed the distant crunching of snow. She paused, listening closely, as the sound grew louder; a frantic pounding against the frost, coupled with a panicked voice— _ his voice _ —calling out a name— _ her name. _

Morrigan turned towards the sound as it drew rapidly closer, and with what little energy she had left, pushed out a small, hopeful cry, just barely audible over the wind.

“Jupiter?”

And there he was. Tangled red hair, electric blue eyes, and an expression that was a mix of panic, determination, and stone-cold fear. Morrigan had to blink to make sure she hadn’t hallucinated him, but no, he was really there.

Morrigan’s search party had arrived at last.

Clouded by relief, she barely noticed the way the ground tilted beneath her, until Jupiter was dashing to her side, worry blazing in his eyes.

He arrived just in time to catch her as her knees buckled and she collapsed entirely. She was too numb to even feel his touch as he held her close, brushing strands of coal-black hair out of her face as she lay her head on his shoulder, shivering.

Jupiter was breathing heavily, cradling her gently as he shifted himself to shield her from the wind. “Morrigan?” he prompted softly. “Mog, look at me.”

Another deep shudder overtook Morrigan and she curled up closer against Jupiter, her vision growing blurry. “Take me home,” she whispered weakly, as the world grew fuzzy around her. “Please.”

Jupiter nodded down at her, resolve flashing in his eyes. “Of course, kiddo. Just... just take it easy. I’ve got you.”

Morrigan’s vision went black, and the bustling noise of the storm gradually faded away. She took comfort in the fact that Jupiter was by her side, wrapping her up in his own coat as he carried her to safety.

“It’s alright, Mog. I’ll get you home safe... I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is probably super not realistic but who cares about accuracy when you could have PAIN?  
> Also hoo boy this was. A long one huh  
> By the way I have NO IDEA how Jupiter’s witness powers work so I had to make it up lmaoooo. You’ll be seeing more of this awful ad libbing later on so prepare yourselves for that cause it’ll probably be ~bad~


	6. Spiral

Fenestra dashed effortlessly through the snow, running back to the Hotel at top speed while taking care not to disturb her passengers. Jupiter sat on her shoulders, clutching Morrigan tightly to his chest and doing his best to make sure she was comfortable. Occasionally a small, pained whine would escape her, and Jupiter felt a stab of guilt.

_ I’m so sorry, Mog,  _ he wanted to say.  _ I should have been here sooner. I should never have let this happen to you.  _

Instead, he settled for a soft, “It’s alright, Mog, we’re almost there.”

When they finally arrived at the Deucalion entrance, Fenestra crouched carefully in the snow, and Jupiter leapt down. Morrigan leaned into him with a shiver as he burst through the Hotel doors, carrying her in his arms.

Kedgeree looked up from the front desk as they entered, his confused expression growing pale as he saw the thin, trembling girl bundled in Jupiter’s coat.

“What in all the realms—?” The older man started breathlessly, but Jupiter didn’t stop to explain. The longer it took to get Morrigan back to her room, the more pain she’d be in, and the more her discomfort would be his fault.

_ I’ve wasted enough time already. _

Fenestra followed through the entrance after Jupiter, shaking snow from her fur as she crossed the lobby. She didn’t even complain that Jupiter hadn’t taken his boots off, instead turning her attention to the horrified concierge. After a short exchange of low murmurs, Kedgeree gave a curt nod, before dashing away with an unreadable look on his face.

Jupiter made his way up the seemingly endless spiral staircase, subconsciously counting each step as he went, acutely aware of each floor that he passed, each agonising second that crawled by. He probably could have taken the elevator, but he wasn’t exactly thinking straight, and he was already up to the third floor...

At long last he reached the fourth floor, exhausted and slightly out of breath. But he didn’t slow down—not for a single moment. There were bigger problems at hand.

The bundle in his arms made a pained whimper. He had to bite back one of his own.

* * *

_ toobrighttoobrighttoobrighttoobright _

Morrigan curled in on herself as dizziness washed over her. The world was bathed in neon, and everything was too much to look at, to listen to, it was all too  _ much  _ too much  _ too much toomuchtoomuch _

Someone was carrying her—she was aware of that much. But she wasn’t entirely sure who, and she didn’t quite have the energy to care.

She was just so  _ tired,  _ she just wanted to  _ sleep,  _ she just wanted it to  _ stop, stop make it stop pleasejustmakeitallSTOP _

Something looked at her.  _ Something  _ was  _ watching  _ her and  _ waiting for her  _ and she wasn’t  _ safe notsafenotsafe _

Red eyes glimmered in the spiralling dark void. Hundreds and thousand and millions of burning red eyes, each of them fixed on  _ her. _

Morrigan tried to scream. All she managed was a quiet squeak. 

A gentle voice in the darkness told her she would be okay, and she  tried,  she  really _tried_ ,  to believe that it was true.

* * *

Jupiter gently pressed a hand to Morrigan’s forehead, letting out a soft gasp as he noticed how warm she was.

_ She’s burning up, poor thing... _

The door creaked behind him as Martha entered, pushing a food trolley in front of her with one hand while carrying a small mountain of blankets in the other. It had been a few minutes since he’d gotten Morrigan to her room, and the rest of the staff had wasted no time in ensuring she was as comfortable as possible. Nobody had said it, but Jupiter knew how stressed they all were; it was on their faces, plain as day. Not that anyone else could actually  see  it.

“I brought soup,” Martha said softly, gesturing to the cart and setting the blankets into a neat pile on the edge of Morrigan’s bed. “How’s she holding up?”

“She’s definitely running a fever,” Jupiter answered, as Martha moved forward silently to drape a fuzzy yellow blanket around Morrigan’s shoulders. “She’s... Well, she’s definitely been better. But she’ll be okay.”

Morrigan coughed, harshly, and both adults couldn’t help but wince.

“... I suppose we’ll just have to wait,” Jupiter finished, rubbing circles on Morrigan’s back as her breathing evened.

He didn’t care how long it would take. In that moment, Jupiter vowed to be there for Morrigan every possible moment until she got better. Largely because of his inexplicable paternal instinct to ensure her wellbeing, but maybe also because a small part of him felt responsible for all of it. There was a tiny, nagging voice in the back of his brain that told him if he’d been a little more organised, a little  faster,  this would have never happened.

And he believed it. He believed every word of it. But he couldn’t focus on that right now.

Morrigan coughed again. Jupiter sighed.

* * *

A figure stood alone in the darkness. A single, unmoving shadow, barely a silhouette in the imperceptible void that encompassed... wherever Morrigan was.

She squinted at it, trying to make sense of it. Who—or what—was it? What did it want?

When would it  _ hurt her? _

It— he— stepped forward. She locked eyes with it— him.

“Always a pleasure, Miss Crow,” Squall said coolly.

“Leave me alone,” Morrigan said, struggling to choke out the words. Her voice was thick and her mind was heavy and her breathing was shaky and what was she talking about again?

It— he?— IT stepped forward again, then once more, then another time. Inching ever closer, until finally he— _IT_ — came to a halt in front of her.

Soulless black eyes met her own. “I  see you,  Morrigan Crow. I know who you are. Who you will  become.”

Morrigan stumbled backwards. “You’re not—you’re not  real.”

He tilted his head ever so slightly. “No. Perhaps not. But I am  _ powerful.  _ And  you—“

A pointed glare, a dissatisfied scowl.

“—are in—“

Rotting grey skin and empty eyes.

“—my way.”

Hundreds of horses and hellhounds, descending to seal her doom.

* * *

Jupiter’s heart ached, watching her struggle like this.

She’d eventually fallen asleep—and he was glad of it. He knew, logically, that she needed rest to recover.

But she was having nightmares. Horrible ones. And they were  relentless.

He could have filtered it out if he wanted to. He knew he had the ability; it would have been as easy as flicking a light switch. But he felt he had a responsibility to watch out for her, and it was a duty he took very seriously. So, Jupiter observed.

He saw the swirling storm clouds hovering above her head—those were the nightmares. Underneath it, a thick haze that he recognised as delirium. And stabbing through the mists, dark green icicles of terror shot up quickly, before sinking away again, soon to be replaced with more just like them.

He wished, with all his heart, that he could make it stop. That there was something,  _ anything  _ he could do, so she wouldn’t have to suffer.

But for now, there was nothing he could do but wait.

He gently took her hand, rubbing her palm with his thumb as she sank into another fitful dream.

Jupiter wanted to say he was trying not to blame himself. But he felt truly awful, like it was all his fault... and a worryingly large part of him told him that he deserved whatever pain would follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe hi so uh. Been a while hasn’t it?  
> I’m kinda near the end of this fic but I might take a short hiatus from it bc I’ll be doing a bunch of oneshots for Mogtober (prompt list on @/jambvds’s instagram) and yeah I might be busy with those. Not like I update frequently anyway lmao 😗✌️  
> Thank y’all sm for 100 hits! I’m glad y’all’re enjoying reading this as much as I’m enjoying writing it :)  
> Also HOLLOWPOX IS OUT NOW??? Wack 😳 now I have to wait for my preorder to arrive 😔 but YAY ITS HERE


	7. Here to Help

“It’ll get worse before it gets better,” he told himself, under his breath, over and over and over. “It’s only a matter of time.”

The mantras did little to ease Jupiter’s growing anxiety as he watched over his bedridden candidate. The nightmares were a little less severe now, thankfully, but her fever seemed to be climbing by the minute. The few times she’d woken up, her eyes had been glassy and unfocused, and she’d been too delirious to even begin any semblance of a coherent sentence.

Jupiter still wondered if it was his fault.

Should he have gone out faster? Kept her home in light of the storm? Or even have kept a better eye on her in the days prior, in case she’d been sick already, and the weather had only made things worse?

He knew he was probably being ridiculous. But he’d promised to keep her safe, and he couldn’t help but feel as if he’d failed.

He sat, dozing, by her bedside, in the exact same spot he’d been for god knows how many hours. The octopus armchair occasionally wrapped an assuring tentacle around one of his limbs, as if trying to tell him everything would be okay. (Maybe he was just going nuts, considering he was prepared to take advice from a chair.)

Every time Morrigan stirred, Jupiter snapped awake, leaning forward to kneel against the side of her bed. She hadn’t entirely come to yet, but he made a habit of checking her fever and tucking the crumpled blankets back over her shoulders.

He liked to think he was helping. In truth, he felt like a very young child had been dumped at his doorstep, and he had to take care of it with next to zero prior knowledge because no one else was around to help and if he didn’t get his act together it would probably die on him or something. (Which was true in part that a child had fallen under his care and he was, at this particular moment, rather stressed out about it.)

He’d dealt with sickness like this before, when Jack had been little. But never in all his years of living had he felt so liable about it.

* * *

“This is your fault,” Ivy said. She sounded almost bored as she stood in the centre of the living room... or at least, the ashy patch of ground where Crow Manor’s living room used to be.

Morrigan looked around at the smouldering remains of the house she’d been raised in. “I’m sorry,” she answered, meaning it. It was always her fault, after all. Surely she was somehow to blame.

“This is  _ all your fault,”  _ Corvus growled, and he turned to her. “You did this.”

She hadn’t. “I did.”

Something poked her in the back, and she turned around. Grandmother was staring at her, crying. “How could you do this?” she demanded between gasps, looking for all her life as if she wanted Morrigan to disappear right then and there. Morrigan wanted that, too.

“I don’t know,” was all Morrigan said, and Grandmother fell to her knees, shrieking.

Morrigan looked down at her hands, covered in dust and soot, and when she looked up a horse of shadow stared at her with glowing red eyes. She blinked, and it was gone.

The living room was back to normal. Her hands were still covered in ash.

Corvus crossed the room in quick, angry strides, grabbing her by the wrist and meeting her eyes with a thunderous look.

“You were never wanted,” he hissed. “And you never will be.”

Morrigan believed him, and fell backwards into darkness.

* * *

Morrigan’s fever spiked two days later.

Jupiter sat on the mattress next to her, rubbing her back comfortingly as she clung to him, choked sobs escaping her as she curled up in a shivering ball.

Once, just once, she called him “dad”. He told himself it was just her fever talking, but something within him ached nonetheless.

He wrapped his arms around her trembling shoulders, smoothing her hair in an attempt to calm her. He could tell she’d had another nightmare, and so he tried his best to comfort her.

It seemed to help—her breathing slowed, and she relaxed under his touch. Jupiter rested her head against his shoulder as she drifted back to sleep.

He glanced upwards and nearly jumped out of his skin.

Distant light from the hallway reflected off a pair of watchful golden eyes, which turned away as he looked at them. Neither spoke for a long moment until Jupiter gathered himself.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he said, quietly so as not to disturb Morrigan.

“You seemed like you had it handled,” Fen replied in a low voice. She stepped forward, out of the shadows, so that Jupiter could see her properly.

He set Morrigan down carefully, and then sat up on the edge of to bed to talk to Fen. The Magnificat’s eyes drifted over to Morrigan, then back to Jupiter.

“How long were you there for?” he asked.

Fenestra’s tail swished slowly back and forth as a half-guilty expression crossed her face. “A few hours,” she admitted at length. “I came in when you were asleep.”

“What, just for tonight, or...?”

“I’ve been here  _every_ night. Since... since we brought her back.”

Jupiter blinked, taken aback. “Is it... bad that I didn’t notice?”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t, ‘cause I knew you’d probably just tell me to leave.” That was true—had he known she was visiting, Jupiter would have told her to go somewhere else and get some rest. He wouldn’t have wanted her to drain herself over something that he’d caused, something he could surely handle on his own.

“So you just... snuck in, then? Every single night?”

“Yep. I’d listen out at the door, and when it seemed like you’d dozed off, I’d come in and watch her at the end of the bed.”

“But why?”

Fenestra ducked her head. “I figured you’d appreciate the weight off your shoulders. ‘Cause you knew that even when you were resting, she’d be looked after.”

Jupiter looked down at Morrigan. “Defeats the point a bit, though,” he countered, “since you didn’t tell me.”

Fen wrapped her tail around her paws. “I suppose that’s true...”

There was another long silence until Jupiter spoke again.

“Fen.”

“What?”

He hesitated. “Thank you.”

“For...?”

He gestured vaguely at Morrigan. “Looking for her with me. We couldn’t have got back half as fast without you, and I hate to think...” He trailed off, searching for the right words.

“What would have happened if we hadn’t,” Fenestra finished for him. “Found her, that is. I know.”

Jupiter nodded quietly. “I’ll watch her,” he said after a while. “You should get some sleep.”

_“You_ should get some sleep,” she rebutted. “Sure you don’t want me to—?”

“I’m sure, Fen. I’ve got it.”

She paused. “Promise me you’ll wake me later, then. We’ll take it in turns.”

“Sounds fair,” Jupiter replied. He stuck a hand out to her. “Shake on it?”

Fen batted his hand lightly with an outstretched paw, which Jupiter supposed was good enough.

She settled onto the ground, making herself comfortable at the foot of Morrigan’s bed. Both were quiet for a moment.

“Jupiter?”

“Yes?”

She pawed gently at the floor, thinking. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, okay?”

Jupiter took a deep breath. “I’ll... I’ll do my best.”

“You’d better. You put in too much effort for your own good, North, and you deserve to at least take some credit for it once in a while.”

There was a moment of comfortable silence. “Thanks, Fen,” he said at length.

“Don’t mention it,” she replied tersely. She lay her head on the floor, curling her tail around her body and bringing it to rest at the tip of her nose. It was only a few short minutes before her soft snoring filled the room.

Jupiter leaned forward, burying his face in his hands with a sigh. Something told him he was in for another long night.

Before he stood up to return to his seat, he leaned over to Morrigan and pressed a gentle hand to her forehead, just like he always did. Maybe it was just his imagination, but she felt a little less warm than she had just hours ago.

He left her with a small pat on the shoulder, and he found himself smiling, much to his own surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .....yeah, I’ve got nothing. Hello! Hi! It’s me again.  
> 2nd post in a day lesgo 😗✌️  
> So uh,,, sorry for the delay LMAOOO  
> Last time I posted I didn’t have Hollowpox (I don’t even know if it was OUT yet), I was thanking y’all for 100 hits (and now past 400? wack) and uhhh. Things Sure Have Changed Huh!  
> Hope y’all liked this one lol. It was a long wait. 😅


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